African Runners Win World 10K Bangalore Marathon

Bangalore, Jun 5 (PTI): Kenya's Philemon Limo ran a brave race to upset his more fancied countrymen and defending champion Titus Mbishei and former world record holder Micah Kogo to win the men's overall title in the TCS World10K Bangalore 2011.

At the Kanteerava Stadium here, where the event concluded, Limo clocked 28:01, seven seconds off last year's timing and 10 seconds off the course record of 27.51, while Leonard Langat clocked 28.09 for the second place.

Ethiopian Lilesa took the third spot with 28.13.

The women's event, which was dominated by the Ethiopians, was a close affair and it required a photo finish to distinguish between the top two finishers.

A bunch of eight athletes entered the stadium together before Dune shifted into top gear with 200 metres to pip country mate Merima Mohammed at the finish line.

Both Tune and Merima timed 33.19, while Beliaynesh Ojira finished third in 33.20 to complete an Ethiopian sweep.

National Games winner Suresh Kumar (20th position) was the fastest among Indians.

Kumar clocked 30.17, which was much slower than his personal best of 28.59, while the fastest women among Indians was Asian and Commonwealth Games medallist Kavita Raut who timed 35.09.

Raut's timing was way outside her personal best of 31.51, that placed her 16th overall. Both Suresh and Kavita took home Rs two lakh for their efforts.

It was champion Mbishei along with countrymen Vincent Kipruto, Emmanuel Kipkemei, Peter Nawowuna and Philemon Limo who took the early lead, passing 2k mark in 5:29.

Limo, who had two identical 27:35 finishes in Rennes and Marseille in 2010 and this year, did the front running after a kilometre with Nawowuna and Leonard Langat, this year's RAK half-marathon third-place finisher, hanging on to his shoulder.

The leaders passed the 3k mark in 8:16 and struggled to maintain the course record pace.

Limo, who finished seventh in this year's World cross country Championship at Punta Umbria, never looked back as Langat's efforts to reduce the 10-metre gap went in vain.
As the runners entered Cubbon Park for the last stages, Ethiopian Lelisa Desisa pushed forward and joined Langat to charge Limo.

Langat and Desisa, credited with a personal best of 27:48 while finishing third in the annual Peachtree Race at Atlanta in 2010, tried desperately to catch the leader but his efforts were not enough as the Kenyan entered the stadium in 27:36 and finished the remainder of the lap to emerge a comfortable winner.

Defending champion Mbishei and former world record holder Micah Kogo, who posted a world record time of 27:15 this April, finished 14th (29:33) and 16 (29:46) respectively.

"I was tired as humidity was high," was Kogo's reaction, while Mbishei, who had come well prepared and confident of defending his title, was at a loss for words to explain what went wrong.

A world class line-up in the women's elite race was expected to provide a keen contest.

The field had current world leader Doris Changeywo of Kenya, credited with a timing of 31:26 clocked six weeks ago, along with last year's runner-up and 2009 winner Aselefech Mergia of Kenya.

A bunch of 20 athletes ran together in the initial stages before it was reduced to a dozen half-way through.

Ethiopian Dire Tune did the front running and passed the 5K at 17:19, carrying along with her teammates Belaynesh Oljira, Ababel Birhane and Tshehay Getio.

There was a brief change in the leading group as Kenyan Edna Kiplagat, one of the pre-race favourites, with colleague Fyles Ongori tried to take control of the situation from Tune.

But the Ethiopian continued to run strongly up front.

Koren Yal, reigning Mumbai Marathon winner, joined Tune and countrymates Oljira and Merima Mohammed at 8K mark.

Eight women entered the stadium with Merima and Oljira running for a strong finish.
Tune produced her final 'kick' with 200m to go. Merima tried her best to keep her at bay, but an experienced Tune managed to win the race and pocket USD 21,000 first prize.

Koren Yal further emphasised Ethiopian dominance, finishing fourth (33.21), while Kenyan Philes Ongori was fifth (33.22). Fancied Changeywo (33:26) and Mergia (33:27) finished sixth and seventh respectively.

Results:

Overall Elite Men: Philomen Limo (KEN) 00:28:01; Leonard Langat (KEN) 00:28:09; Lilesa Desisa (ETH) 00:28:09; Emmanuel Kikemei (KEN) 00:28:20; Vincent Kipruto (KEN) 00:28:45; Aschealew Meketa (ETH) 00:28:47; Nicholas Kamakya (KEN) 00:28:54; Sentaheyu Merga (ETH) 00:29:04; Habtamu Fikadu (ETH) 00:29:05.

Overall Elite women: Dire Tune (ETH) 00:33:19; Merima Mohammed (ETH) 00:33:19; Beliaynesh Oljira (ETH) 00:33:20; Koren Yal (ETH) 00:33:21; Philes Ongori (KEN) 00:33:22; Doris Changeywo (KEN) 00:33:26; Aselefech Mergia (ETH) 00:33:27; Edna Kiplagat (KEN) 00:33:35; Hilda Kibet (NED) 00:33:40; Mare Dibaba (ETH) 00:33:43.

Indian Men: Suresh Kumar :00:30:17; Dangi V.L. : 00:30:25; Kheta Ram :00:30:34; Indrajeet Patel:00:30:38; Sandeep Kumar: 00:30:53; Sanjit Luwang:00:30:56; Raspal Singh:00:30:58; Mukesh Rawat:00:31:11; Pritam Bind:00:31:26; Santosh:00:31:33.

Indian Women: Kavita Raut:00:35:09; Sudha Singh:00:35:28; Priyanka Singh Patel:00:37:04; Lalita Babbar:00:37:19; Kiran Tiwari:00:37:27; Swati Gawade : 00:37:41; Anuradha Singh:00:37:49; Jhumma Khaton:00:38:15; Savita Devi:00:38:36; Vijay Mala Patil:00:38:46.

Open 10K Men:(Between 15-39 yrs): Ankit Roy (IND) 00:34:00; Dharmaraju B (IND) 00:34:15; Rajendra Kumar Bind (IND) 00:34:31.

Open 10K: Men (Between 40-49 yrs) Girish Chandra (IND) 00:38:08; Damian Miler (USA) 00:38:09; Suresh Chand (IND) 00:39:51.

Open 10K: Men(Between 50-59 yrs) Kothandapani K C (IND) 00:44:00; Siddesha H (IND) 00:45:25; Bhaskar Sharma (IND) 00:45:57.

Open 10K: Men(Between 60-69 yrs) Manjunatha Kota (IND) 00.47.42; Guenter Kleinknecht (GER) 00:48:57; G Chandran (IND) 00:50:02.

Open 10K Women:(Between 15-39 yrs): Raj Kumari (IND) 00:41:46; Anish Devi (IND) 00:42:25; Rachel Carter (AUS) 00:45:03.

Open 10K: Women(Between 40-49 yrs): Sandra Holmes (GBR) 00:54:36; Jacqueline Hyde (GBR) 00:55:23; Anjali Chalisgaonkar (IND) 00:55:56.

Open 10K: Women(Between 50-59 yrs): Saroja Dileepan (IND) 01:06:45; Shamala Manmohan (IND) 01:08:51; Juju Grieve (GBR) 01:09:44.

Open 10K: Women(Between 60-69 yrs): Malini Kini (IND) 01:27:57; Shreelatha Banger (IND) 01:57:41.